


What Exactly Are We Doing?

by DKNC



Series: Love, Unexpected [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-01
Updated: 2013-07-01
Packaged: 2017-12-16 18:23:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/865155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DKNC/pseuds/DKNC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ned Stark wasn't precisely sure when he'd fallen in love with his brother's girlfriend, but he would never forget the day he finally allowed himself to accept that she just might truly feel the same way about him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Exactly Are We Doing?

“So? Any other questions, Brandon, or does that about cover it?” Ned Stark looked out the window of his brother’s office and saw that the flurries had become larger flakes. _Damn. Traffic will be a nightmare if this stuff starts to stick._

He had been standing by the window for the last several moments of their conversation, and he now walked back to the large desk where his brother sat in his big leather seat, elbows braced on the desktop, fingers massaging his temples as he surveyed the graphs, spreadsheets, and narrative reports Ned had spread out all over the desk for him to review.

“God damn it,” Brandon muttered.

“I beg your pardon?” Ned said to him.

Brandon raised his eyes to look at him. “I said God damn it. And God damn you, Ned, for always doing this.” He sighed heavily.

“For doing what?” Ned asked him with some amusement. “Analyzing the proposals you bring me to analyze?”

“No! For poking them full of goddamn holes, you asshole,” Brandon said, shaking his head and laughing just a little. “You’re right, of course. This,” he said, jabbing his finger at one of the spreadsheets, “and especially this,” another more violent jab at a passage Ned had circled on a tentative agreement document “are big problems, Ned.” He shook his head again. “I just really wanted this, you know. I feel like this could be really big, really increase our presence in the southeast and give us a lot more opportunities to diversify. I had plans . . .”

Now Ned laughed. “You _have_ plans, Brandon. And they’re good ones. You’re right about this being potentially huge. To be honest, I’m a little surprised Dad didn’t keep this one himself. Oh, that’s no knock on you!” he protested as Brandon made a face at him. “You’re great at all this wheeling and dealing and Dad knows it as well as I do. I just thought with it being the Tyrells, he’d get all proprietary about this deal. You know how he is about big players.”

Brandon nodded. “Yeah, I do. I wanted to come through on this one for him, Ned. Show him he was right to give it to me. Then you come along with the doom and gloom.”

Ned shook his head. “To be fair, I did not poke holes. I pointed out potential problems. I still think this deal has the potential to make everyone involved a lot of money. You just can’t let Mace Tyrell set the terms, that’s all. And if you point out the problems with his figures here . . .and here,” he said, doing some pointing of his own, “you’ve got yourself plenty of bargaining leverage.”

Brandon nodded thoughtfully. “It’s not just Mace, though. You’d think the old woman would sell her stock and step down already, but she just won’t go away. And she’s a hell of a lot tougher nut to crack than her son.”

Ned laughed. “Olenna Tyrell won’t ever step down. She loves the game even more than Dad does. She’s at least as good as he is, too, although I’ll deny it if you tell him I said that.”

“So, how do I get around the old broad?”

“She’s a woman. You’re Brandon Stark. Charm her.”

“You’re really no help, Ned.”

“So you keep telling me.”

He walked back to the window and saw that the snowfall showed no sign of relenting. It wasn’t even enough to count as snow back in Maine, but it didn’t take much to grind D.C. traffic to a halt. “Really, though, Brandon, that’s all I’ve got. My concerns with the joint venture are all spelled out there. If they can be addressed, then I say you go after this deal with both barrels. If the Tyrells won’t budge on those items, then my vote is no.”

Brandon nodded slowly and looked back down at the papers in front of him.

“I do need to get back to my own office before it closes, and it’s snowing,” Ned said then. “So, unless you have any questions?”

Brandon waved at him absently, and Ned turned to go. Just as he reached the door of Brandon’s office, though, his brother’s voice stopped him flat. “Actually I do have one question for you, Ned. Just what the fuck are you doing with Catelyn Tully?”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ned sat behind the wheel of his silver Mercedes in bumper to bumper traffic that barely moved and glared at the digital clock on the dash. Four-thirty. He’d asked for two hours for lunch today in order to meet with Brandon which meant he should have been back at his own desk by two. Two-thirty at the latest. He’d called Mr. Arryn before leaving Stark Enterprises and told him the meeting had run late. _Meeting! The fight with my asshole brother, more like._ And now the pretty little snowflakes were turning what should be a twenty-five minute commute from there to Arryn and Associates into the better part of an hour. _Damn it, Brandon! Why did you come at me like that?_

_What the fuck are you doing with Catelyn Tully?_

Ned sighed. It wasn’t as if he didn’t ask himself the same question at least ten times a day. Brandon had no right to ask it, though. Catelyn was no concern of Brandon’s. Not any more. He knew for a fact that Brandon had tried to contact Catelyn precisely three times in the almost seven months since he’d left her alone in a hotel room with a ruined dress and wounded psyche. He knew that Catelyn never returned the calls. He knew these things because Cat had called him each time instead. She’d needed a friend who could understand that she didn’t want Brandon, but couldn’t hate him. Someone who understood that while she was no longer in love with him, she was still afraid of the power he’d once had over her. Afraid of how he could make her feel. Ned supposed he understood as much as anyone could. After all, he was the one getting back to his office over two hours late, knuckles still sore from their contact with his brother’s jaw, but knowing that the next time Brandon needed something, he’d probably do it.

He hadn’t really seen much of Catelyn in those first three months after he’d picked her up from that hotel room, fed her breakfast, and taken her home. He’d graduated from law school, and then it was studying for the bar non-stop until he’d taken the awful test in July. She’d called him several times during those months--the three “I’m calling you because I don’t want to call Brandon back” episodes came first. Then came a few “I really just want to call you for completely non-Brandon-related reasons” calls.

She’d called the day after the ridiculous extravaganza his father had thrown for his graduation. She hadn’t been at the party, of course, and while Ned had enjoyed himself well enough, her congratulatory call the next day had thrilled him more. He’d asked her to meet him for coffee, and she did. They’d talked about his plans, and he’d told her about the offer from his father’s friend, Jon Arryn, to come into his law firm. His father had been dead set on him working exclusively for Stark Enterprises, but Jon Arryn was a hell of a lawyer, and Ned had really wanted a chance to work with him and learn from him. Besides, his credentials would be far more impressive if he could list legal work experience for someone other than “Daddy” in his resume. Catelyn had encouraged him to tell his father precisely that and to accept Mr. Arryn’s offer however Rickard Stark felt about it. “You deserve this, Ned,” she’d said in that quietly firm voice of hers, blue eyes never wavering from his. “It will all work out for you. I promise.” He’d taken her advice and she’d been right.

He’d started calling her every once in awhile after that, just to check on her. Just to talk. They could talk about anything, he’d discovered. And they could not talk. That had surprised and delighted Ned because while he was good with words when he needed to make a case or argue a point, they sometimes deserted him when he needed to express anything remotely personal, and she seemed comfortable with his pauses and silences, even on the telephone.

Once he’d taken the dreaded test in July, they’d started getting together fairly regularly, always low key. They’d go to lunch or to the park or to a movie. She usually wouldn’t let him pay. They even drove out to King’s Dominion once, and she’d talked him into riding a roller coaster called, of all things, The Intimidator 305. Cat hadn’t been intimidated in the slightest, and the look of sheer joy and exhilaration on her face as that incredible copper hair of hers flew back behind her had increased his heart rate far more than the coaster ride itself did. She’d wanted to ride it four more times, and he’d been happy to comply just to watch her face. When she fell asleep in the passenger seat of his car as he drove her home that night, he’d looked at her and realized that he had just had the best day of his entire life. He’d never even kissed her then.

He’d kissed her now, though. He’d gotten his bar exam scores in early October, and his first call had been to her. Her squeal when he’d told her he’d passed had almost hurt his ear. She’d ordered him to get to her apartment as soon as he got off work, and she’d met him at the door with two bottles of champagne which they proceeded to down immediately as she made toast after toast to the soon to be storied and celebrated career of Eddard Stark, Attorney at Law. By their third glass, she’d made him Attorney General, and when they were halfway through the second bottle, she’d tried to make him president.

“I don’t want to be president,” he’d told her, suddenly serious.

“What do you want?” she’d asked. They’d been sitting on her little sofa and she leaned into him as she spoke, her blue eyes mere inches from his grey ones. He’d known what he wanted, but he couldn’t say it.

“What do you want, Ned?” she’d asked again. “Just tell me, and I’ll make it happen,” she’d said with a giggle and a dramatic sweep of her arm that succeeded in spilling half a glass of champagne on the front of his shirt. “Oh!” she’d exclaimed, and she’d immediately put her hands to his chest as if to wipe away the spill.

He’d grabbed her face then and turned it up toward his, putting his mouth on hers and tasting the champagne on her lips and tongue. He decided right then he never wanted to taste champagne any other way again. She’d wound her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with equal fervor, and they continued that way until some tiny part of his brain began telling him he needed to stop. It couldn’t be like this. She couldn’t be the least bit drunk. That was too much like . . .

He’d pushed her away more forcefully than he’d intended, and she’d looked hurt. Very quickly, he’d said. “You. That kiss. That’s what I want, Cat.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I have more kisses, you know. You don‘t have to settle for just the one.” Then, just as if she’d said something scandalous, she’d blushed until her cheeks glowed like her hair, and he had kissed her again--a soft, almost chaste kiss, first to her lips, and then quickly on the tip of her perfect nose.

“I’ll settle for that tonight,” he’d said. “You need to be in bed, Catelyn Tully.”

“Are you coming with me?” She’d blushed deeper as she asked, but hadn’t looked away.

“No,” he’d said simply, and then cursed himself at the wounded rejection he saw in her face. “It isn’t that I don’t want to, Cat,” he’d told her softly. “It’s only that I would prefer it be about you and me and not about champagne.”

Her eyes had darkened, but she’d nodded. “Yes,” she’d said, getting up off the sofa, and walking only a little off balance as she moved away. “I suppose we both know I can’t be trusted when I drink too much.”

“That’s not what I meant!” he protested. “Cat, it’s just . . .”

“It’s all right. I’m not angry with you. But you can’t tell me you aren’t thinking about it. That morning, I mean. Or the night that came before.”

He hadn’t said anything because he had been thinking of it, and he didn’t want to lie. He suspected that he and Catelyn both held some things back, but they didn’t lie to each other. He couldn’t say that about many people in his life and he wasn’t going to mess that up.

She nodded. “I’ll call you a cab. You’ve had as much champagne as I have, and I’ll not have you get a DUI your first night as an official member of the bar.” She’d smiled at him then, but there was a sadness there that they couldn’t quite shake as they waited for the cab to take him home.

That had been just over a month ago, and he’d kissed her several times since, each time somehow, impossibly, more exciting to him than the last. Yet, even as they seemed to have officially crossed that line from friendship to dating in terms of their physical affection, their conversation had developed an odd hesitancy that it never had before. Today, after the fight with Brandon, Ned finally realized what it was. Since that night with the champagne, neither of them had said his brother’s name in the presence of the other.

 _What the fuck am I doing with Catelyn Tully? I wish I knew, Brother. I wish I knew_. _____________________________________________________________________________________

“Four forty-five?” Ned’s best friend thundered at him when he walked into the office that they shared. “Four fucking forty-five?!? Old man Arryn would have my head if I pulled a stunt like that! Good thing you’re the golden boy, Ned.”

“Shut up, Robert, I am not in the mood. I’ve got a million things to get done here and now I have very little time to do them, so just shut up.” Ned plopped himself down at the desk with the brass nameplate reading Eddard Stark supported by an elegant holder carved in the shape of two howling wolves--a present from Catelyn.

“Brandon take you to a bar?”

“No, Robert. Shut up.” Ned turned on his laptop, typed in his password, and reached for the top binder in a stack on his desk.

“Who pissed in your beer, Stark? You’re in the foulest mood I’ve seen you in since you started banging Catelyn Tully.”

At that, Ned saw red. “I am not banging Catelyn Tully!” he shouted at Robert, standing back up. He loved the man like a brother, sometimes more than his actual brothers, but there were some days he wished that Jon Arryn had taken any other law school graduate for the second position here. Some days Robert Baratheon’s cavalier attitude toward work, women, and life in general was simply more than Ned could take.

“Hey there,” Robert put his hands up. “If she isn’t putting out this week, I can see why you might be cranky, but don’t take it out on me.”

“Don’t talk about her like that, Robert. Just . . .don’t talk about her at all.” Ned’s voice was dangerously low. Even Brandon knew enough to back off when he started to growl, but Robert couldn’t stop.

“Oh, come on, Ned. Cat’s a good girl and all, but don’t go all Victorian on me. I mean, you're both grown-ups and we all know she’s not a virgin or anything. My god, the stories Brandon used to tell!”

Ned was around his desk and at his best friend’s throat before he had a chance to think about it. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, Robert was a lot bigger than Ned or Brandon, and he had Ned’s arms pinned before he could do any damage--to Robert or himself.

“Calm down,” Robert thundered. “Look, I’ll shut up about Catelyn Tully. Whatever. I like the girl. Always thought she was too good for the likes of your brother.” He laughed at Ned’s glare. “Don’t bother saying it. She’s too good for me, too. Now, when I let you go, are you going to try to strangle me or punch me again?”

Ned sighed. “Good,” Robert said. “I’ve got a date after work and I don’t want to mess up my pretty face.”

“Who’s the lucky girl?” Ned said dryly, returning to the chair behind his desk.

“It’s . . .ah . .I forget her name--the new one in reception downstairs. Cute brunette. Curly hair just to her shoulders. Short skirts, long legs. Terrific ass. Susie, that’s it!”

Ned sighed. “Sally,’ he said wearily. “The new girl’s name is Sally. Try to remember it while you’re out with her, would you?”

Robert grinned at him and then sat down across from him and looked about as serious Robert could look. “What the hell happened to you today? Seriously, man. I haven’t seen you this wound up since . . since . . .ever!”

Ned sighed again. “Brandon asked me just what the fuck I’m doing with Catelyn Tully.”

Robert looked startled. “You mean he didn’t know? That the two of you are . . .well, whatever the hell the two of you are?”

“No,” Ned said. “But apparently he does now.”

“I’m afraid that’s on me, Ned. I ran into Brandon a couple nights ago, and this hot redheaded chick came into the bar and, he said something about having a thing for hot redheads, and I said something back about it running in the family and . . .man, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was a secret. I mean . . .”

“It isn’t,” Ned said. “There just isn’t anything to tell. And it’s none of Brandon’s damn business anyway. And it’s just . . .complicated. But the way he went on today about her. I mean he talked like he somehow owned her. Like he’d marked her and I needed to stay away. It made me sick, Robert. Because she doesn’t even know just how shitty he really was to her. Because I kept his damn secrets! Do you have any idea just how many girls he fucked while they were together? And that’s not even the worst of it. Jesus, Robert, you know how Brandon talks. How can I tell Catelyn I know every detail about how she lost her virginity because I heard Brandon tell it in a bar with about ten other guys?”

“You can’t, Ned. Don’t ever tell her that. Noooooo.” Robert shook his dark head slowly back and forth as he drew out that syllable.. “Listen to me, Stark. I realize you have this almost pathologic aversion to lying, but I’m telling you man, there is such a thing as too much honesty. Just let it go.”

“What if I can’t, Robert? What if she asks me, point blank, what Brandon has told me about her? I’ve never lied to her, Robert. I’ve . . .left things out. But I’ve never lied to her. If I start lying now, where do we go from here? What chance do we have?”

“What chance do you have?” Robert repeated. Then he looked at Ned a long time. Finally he let out a low whistle. “Well, I’ll be damned. This isn’t about getting into Catelyn Tully’s pants. You’re in love with this girl, aren’t you?”

Ned didn’t answer him. He just sat there, silent and miserable.

“Wow.” Robert shook his head. “If it were anybody else, man, I’d say bang her to get her out of your system and forget about her. But I know you better than that. Look, if she means that much to you, then screw Brandon. It’s a fucked up situation, all right? But that’s not your fault. Ned, I’m probably not ever going to say this again, so listen up. Brandon. Me. The way we live our lives--that’s what’s fucked up. You’re better than we are. You’re the one who could actually get the girl and live happily ever after. And I don’t think that’s in the cards for everybody. I don’t know Cat that well. I mean, she’s hot as hell, and Brandon always talked more about what she’s like in the sack than any of her other qualities, but anybody who’s talked to her for five minutes knows she’s got a brain. And you told me about that stunt she pulled with her cell phone camera when Brandon was getting his “international incident” blowjob so she’s certainly got guts! If you want her, Ned, figure out how to give it a chance. That’s all I know to tell you.”

Ned looked at his friend, somewhat astounded. That was likely the longest serious speech he’d ever heard Robert make. “I think the happy ever after part’s out there for you, Robert,” he said after a minute. “You just haven’t figured out what yours is yet.”

“Well,” Robert said grinning, “Maybe it’s down in reception. I gotta scoot, Ned. Some of us actually attended work today, and I don’t wanna be late picking up Short Skirt.”

Ned rolled his eyes. “Her name is . . .”

“Sally,” Robert interrupted. “I know. I just like to see you make your disapproving face.” With that, Robert left the office, and Ned turned reluctantly to the stack of work on his desk. _____________________________________________________________________________________

“You’re sure it’s not too late?” Ned asked as he walked into Catelyn’s apartment at nine-thirty that night.

She went up on her toes to kiss him quickly. “Of course, it’s not too late! I’d have been mad at you if you cancelled on me altogether. I haven’t seen you in three days.”

She missed him. That probably shouldn’t please him as much as it did, but he smiled at her. “I wanted to see you, too.”

“Well, I want to kiss you, and that peck at the door doesn’t count.” She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, almost making him forget what he had to do. Almost convincing him that this was enough. They didn’t have to pick at the scab in order to heal. But that wasn’t true. Gently, he pulled himself away from her.

“I had an interesting conversation with Brandon today,” he said neutrally.

“What?” She looked stunned. “About what?” He simply looked at her until he saw the anger start to darken her blue eyes. “Me? The two of you had a conversation about me?”

“Actually, he asked me a question. He asked me what the fuck I’m doing with Catelyn Tully.”

At that, she actually screamed in rage. “That son of a bitch!” she shouted, and Ned knew she was well and truly furious because she did not use casual profanity. She could be quite colorful when riled, however. “How dare he?!? What gives him the right to think he can fuck with the one good thing in my life? Hasn’t he done enough? I don’t want anything to do with him, Ned!”

“He’s my brother, Cat,” Ned said softly.

“You think I don’t know that? My god, Ned, just look in the mirror. I don’t need to be reminded he’s your brother.”

That took him aback just a little. “Is that what you see when you look at me, Cat? You see Brandon?”

Her expressive face showed nothing but shock and horror at the thought, so he believed her when she said, “Oh god, Ned, no! That isn’t what I meant at all. I only mean . . .” She bit her lip the way she often did when thinking hard or searching for the right way to say something. “I see the resemblance. How can I not? Your eyes are very much alike and yet so different in the way they look at me. And sometimes, I just . . .I wish I’d never known Brandon because I do remember the good times with him as well as the bad, and then I look at you and I don’t ever want you to think that I’m wishing you were Brandon or comparing you to Brandon or that I want Brandon at all because I don’t! I want you, Ned. I’ve never wanted anybody as much as I want you, and that includes your brother!”

“We can’t erase him, Cat.”

“I know that!” she said desperately. “But I don’t know what to do about it. I’ve tried just ignoring it and . .”

Ned actually chuckled then. “Yeah. I’ve sort of realized that. You haven’t mentioned his existence since the night we drank all that champagne.”

She blushed at that.

“It won’t work, Cat.”

“What won’t work? Us? Is that what you and Brandon discussed today? Why we won’t work?”

That made him angry. She was always so quick to believe he would somehow decide to walk out of her life. She behaved as if she didn’t deserve him, and that actually infuriated him more than Brandon’s insinuations that she was “used goods” as far as Starks were concerned. His brother was an ass. Catelyn should know better. She should think better of herself and better of him.

“No,” he said. “If you must know, he basically told me that because you had once been his, I needed to stay away from you, so I told him to go to hell and then just possibly dislocated his jaw.”

“What?!?” The blue eyes went comically wide. “You hit Brandon?”

“I hit Brandon.”

“What did he do?”

“He fell down.”

“Then what did he do, Ned?"

“I don’t know. I left.”

“Ned! You punched Brandon in the jaw hard enough to knock him down and just left him there?” She stared at him as if he were some exotic plant or animal she’d never seen before.

“I told his secretary she should go right in and check on him. If he’d wanted to file assault charges, he could have had me stopped before I left the building,” he said calmly.

“Oh my god.” She sank down onto her sofa, and looked back up at him. “Is your hand all right?” she asked him.

“It’s sore,” he admitted, flexing the knuckles. “I haven’t hit anybody that hard since I was about twelve. That was Brandon, too, by the way. And he deserved it then as well. But not as much as he did today.”

Catelyn swallowed. “What did he say about me, Ned?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, shaking his head. “I will tell you if you insist, Cat, but I would rather not. Brandon sometimes talks to hear the sound of his own voice, to impress those around him, or to hurt someone, and when he speaks like that his words reflect only on him and not on anyone else.”

“But what he said about me hurt you,” she said, blue eyes filling with tears. “You wouldn’t have hit him otherwise.”

He sat down beside her and took her hands in his. “I won’t allow anyone to speak badly of you, Cat. He gets no exemption for being my brother. That doesn’t mean his words affect how I feel about you.”

“But how can you . . .”

“Cat! Would you be angry if someone said hurtful things about me?”

“Of course!”

“And would it change the way you feel about me?”

“No! But it’s different.”

“How?”

She looked down then, and that was unusual, “Because Brandon can tell you things that are true,” she said in a tiny voice.

“Like what?” Ned asked. “That you had sex with him? That you liked it? Jesus, Catelyn, you were engaged to the man. You were together for years. There is no shame in that! You have got to get past this, Cat, before we can move forward.”

“What if I can’t?”

“You can. But only if you stop hiding from my brother.”

“I’m not hiding,” she said defensively.

“Yes, you are. You haven’t spoken to Brandon or gone anywhere he might be since you spent that night with him in the . . .”

“Stop it! I don’t want to talk about that with you.”

“Fine. Talk about it with Brandon.”

She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What?”

“You need to talk with Brandon. Talk about your breakup or talk about the weather. I don’t much care. But you have to see him, Cat. You have to talk to him and then you can know that he doesn’t control you any more.”

“He never controlled me.”

“You’re afraid of him, Cat.”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid of me,” she said softly. “I’m afraid of me when I’m with him.”

“Then let’s put it to rest.”

After a long time, she nodded. “Okay.” Then she leaned into him, and he just put his arms around her and held her for a very long time.

 _I could make her hate him,_ he thought. _I could tell her every girl he slept with, including the twins he’d screwed in the closet at Catelyn’s twenty-first birthday party, and the three month fling he’d had with Catelyn’s roommate her sophomore year. I could tell her every dirty story about her he’s used to entertain people she sees on a regular basis. But that would only hurt her._

He realized he didn’t want Catelyn to hate Brandon. She did remember the good times with him. It had been five years of her life, much of it happy, and Ned didn’t have the right to destroy the memories. She had to find her own way to reconcile her past and present and her relationships with Brandon and himself.

He realized the soft weight of her head on his chest was suddenly missing and he looked down to see that she had raised her head up.

He smiled at her. “What are you looking at?”

“You,” she said. “I don’t want to look at anyone but you now.” _____________________________________________________________________________________

It had taken two weeks and a very uncomfortable Thanksgiving holiday to get Brandon to agree to sit down and talk with Catelyn. Catelyn had spent the holiday with her family, and Ned had gone with his to Winterfell, the ramshackle old stone mansion with lots of land and multiple outbuildings in Maine that Rickard Stark had bought when he first started to make money in Stark Enterprises. Apparently, he’d researched the history of the place and it had actually been built by some Stark ancestor. Ned loved the old place and wished he could spend more time there. It had been heaven when he and his sister and brothers were younger, and he’d long imagined bringing his own children there in the summers and at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now, when he imagined those scenes, he realized he had started picturing his imaginary children with Cat’s hair and eyes.

This particular trip was far from idyllic, however, as he and Brandon weren’t speaking. Everyone knew Ned had smashed his fist into Brandon’s jaw at Stark Enterprises two weeks before, but neither brother was giving any information. Dinner on Thursday was miserable, and Friday was distinguished by Lya and Ben being painfully overenthusiastic about every family activity their father suggested in an effort to compensate for the negativity of their two older brothers. By Saturday morning, Rickard Stark had had enough. He called Brandon and Ned both into his study as if they were kids again and informed them that whatever the hell was going on between them would be fixed immediately or he would make their lives all kinds of miserable at home, at work, and anywhere they chose to run. He’d then turned on his heel, leaving his two oldest sons glaring at each other in the study.

“Fine,” Brandon finally said. “I’ll talk to the little . . .I’ll talk to Red,” he amended before Ned could object.

“Her name is Catelyn.”

“Whatever. If I call her Catelyn, she won’t know who the hell I am. She’s Cat. And to me, she’s Red.”

Brandon actually sounded almost wistful as he said the last, and Ned had a moment of panic about putting him in a room alone with Catelyn. _Get a grip,_ he told himself. _That’s exactly what she’s afraid of you thinking, you idiot!_

“Want me to bring her by your office Monday?” he asked him. Regardless of how Brandon had behaved with Ned a couple weeks ago, he was generally less likely to act like an idiot at Stark Enterprises than most other places.

“You? I thought the point was for Red and I to talk things out on her own.”

“It is,” Ned said levelly. “But I’ll be bringing her and picking her up.”

“Fine,” Brandon said. “Eleven okay for you and her?”

“Should be. I’ll check with Cat.”

Brandon nodded, and Ned turned to go. “Hey, Ned.” He turned back at the sound of his brother’s voice. “Just leave the right hook at home this time, okay? I think a second blow might shatter the jaw and Olenna Tyrell seemed to like my smile.”

Ned felt the grin stretching across his face. “She must have liked something about you, Prince Charming. Dad told me you got the Highgarden deal done. He showed me the new figures on it. Nice work, Brandon.”

Things were a bit more tense when he escorted Catelyn to Brandon’s office two days later.

“Miss Tully!” his secretary had exclaimed “It’s so nice to see you again! You’re here to see Mr. Stark, I take it?”

“Yes, Emily, I am.” Her voice sounded confident, but Ned knew her well enough by now to see the worry in her eyes.

“You’ll be fine,” he said. “You want me to walk in with you?”

“No. I want to do this by myself. You’ll be back at noon?”

“Sooner, if you call me,” he’d assured her.

Then she’d given one of her thousand watt smiles to the secretary who’d been listening intently to their conversation and then tiptoed up to plant a kiss right smack on Ned’s lips. Turning back to the shocked secretary, she’d said primly, “You may announce me now, Emily.”

Ned was still laughing at the woman’s expression when he got Catelyn’s text message at 11:45. _Don’t come until 12:30._ Nothing else, and he wondered if that were good or bad. He’d told Cat repeatedly that this was for her, that he had no doubts about her feelings for Brandon. So why did he spend the next forty-five minutes imagining them falling into each other’s arms?

At twelve twenty-nine, he was back at Brandon’s office, telling Emily to announce him. When she put down the phone and told him to go on in, he did just that, without knocking on the door, and he entered to the sound of Catelyn’s laughter. She was standing up, her back to him with her long auburn hair cascading down over her shoulders. Her right arm was stretched out across the desk and his brother stood there smiling at her, holding her hand in his. Ned swallowed hard and his jaw clenched.

Brandon looked up and saw him. “Oh for God’s sake, Eddard, don’t have a fit. I’m shaking her hand, not screwing her on the desk.”

“Don’t be an ass, Brandon,” Catelyn snapped, pulling her hand back and walking to Ned. “He has actually behaved reasonably well until now. I only had to threaten him with violence twice.” She smiled up at him, and he relaxed a fractional amount as he looked at those gorgeous blue eyes.

“Jesus. Did we look that revoltingly sweet when we gazed at each other, Red?”

“No,” Ned and Catelyn said together. Then she laughed, and Ned went on to say. “She always looked sweet. You just looked revolting.”

“Hey, that actually wasn’t bad, Ned. Maybe Cat’s new calling in life is to keep you from being terminally boring.”

“Brandon, I swear. If you do not shut up . . .” Catelyn started.

“It’s all right, Cat,” Ned interrupted. “This is the way Brandon expresses his brotherly love for me. Pay him no mind. Are you ready to go?”

“Oh, yes.”

“You needn’t sound quite so eager, Red. You’ll have him convinced I tried to molest you.”

Catelyn rolled her eyes. “Goodbye, Brandon. Let’s go, Ned.”

As they walked to the car, she held his hand tightly. “Are you all right?” he asked her.

“Yes. It was . . .hard, at first. You’d think after five years with a man, you’d know how to talk to him, but I honestly didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have anything to say.”

“But you got through it.”

“I did. Aren’t you going to ask me what we talked about?”

“No.”

“Aren’t you curious?” she asked him.

He laughed at that. “I’m human, Cat. But, I told you this was for you. You can tell me what you want when you want. If you want. As long as you can be in the same room as my brother, or more importantly with me, without beating yourself up over your past with him, I’m content.”

“I like your brother,” she said then, as he opened the car door for her. “About a half hour into our conversation, I started to remember why I liked him.”

Ned walked to the driver’s side and got in himself. “Why is that?” he asked, trying to sound casual.

“He’s funny, irreverent, charming, clever. He’s really quite likable when he wants to be.”

“That’s Brandon,” Ned said to her, “Prince Charming.”

She laughed at that. “Hardly,” she said. “In Cinderella and Snow White, Prince Charming isn’t a complete ass. Brandon is.” She laughed at his face. “I’m sorry, my love, but your brother is simply the most charming ass I’ve ever met. I understand completely why I enjoyed hanging out with him sometimes, but I can’t for the life of me fathom why I ever thought I could stand being married to him!”

His mind worked at following precisely what she had said about Brandon because it had gotten stuck at the point she had called him “my love.” Did she actually mean that? Or was it just an expression, like the ladies who called everyone honey or dear? He’d never heard her say it before.

“Your cell phone’s beeping,” she said now. “Want me to see who it is?”

“Sure,” he said.

She picked it up and then began cackling hysterically.

“What?” he said.

“Text from Brandon,” she said. _“Just don’t fuck around on her.”_ She started laughing again. “What an asshole. Saying something like that to you of all people! Like he didn’t bang every girl who stood still long enough the whole time we were together!”

He must have looked shocked because she laughed at him then. “Yes, Ned. I know about that. Oh, I don’t know all their names and addresses, but I know more than enough. More than I care to, actually. It’s amazing how many people want to tell you things after you break up with someone. Of course, no one says anything while you’re just being stupid and blind and in love.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should never have let you get engaged. I should have . . .”

“I didn’t mean you. Ned, he’s your brother. And I know you got on him about the cheating. That’s more than anybody else did. And you did all but tell me to dump his ass after the Barbrey Ryswell thing.”

Ned swallowed. “I still should have said something more to you. I didn’t because . .well, you loved him, and he swore he loved you . . .and I . ..I wasn’t entirely sure I would be telling you for your sake.”

“My sweet Ned,” she said. “You didn’t want to steal your brother’s girl. In spite of the fact that the girl is a thousand times better off with you, and if she were any less stupid she’d have known that years ago.” She reached over and took his hand, and they drove the rest of the way to her apartment in silence.

When he walked her to her door, she turned and stopped him just before they went inside. “Ned, I talked to your brother today. I know without any doubt that I am not in love with, lusting after, or even nostalgic about your brother.”

“That’s good to know.”

“I am also completely sober and I don’t have a single alcoholic beverage in this apartment.”

“And I need to know this why?”

She punched him lightly on the chest. “I would like you to stay with me tonight, so I’m trying to remove all potential reasons why you shouldn’t.” Her voice trembled a little then, and her cheeks colored as she met his eyes to add, “I want you to make love to me.” She kissed him then, her lips soft and warm and tasting of the promise of so much more. “Please, Ned.”

He nodded, pushed the door open and led her inside where he pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. Neither of them were breathing very steadily when they pulled apart, but she managed to say, “I . . I meant tonight.”

“You want me to go now?”

“God no! But . . . It’s only one-thirty. Don’t you have to go back to work?”

“I’m sick,” he said. “I’m injured. My third cousin twice removed died suddenly in a horrible accident.”

“That’s terrible!” she exclaimed, hitting his chest again.

“I don’t care. I’m not going back to work.”

She smiled at him and began to undo her blouse.

He stared at her and thought it must look like his eyes were going to bulge out of his head as she shucked off the blouse and reached behind her back to undo the clasp on her bra. When she dropped that to the floor, revealing the impossibly white flesh of her full breasts, dark pink nipples standing straight out at him, he actually gasped at the jolt of desire that shot through his entire body and settled quite painfully in his now fully erect cock. He wasn’t even touching her yet, and he wondered if he could last another minute.

“Cat,” he gasped as she reached for the buttons on his shirt. She seemed to sense his urgency because somehow the rest of their clothes came off much more quickly than her bra and blouse, and they were both naked, pressed against each other and stumbling toward her bedroom. He had the fleeting thought that Brandon had held her against him like this in this very room, but he banished it at once, overwhelmed by the sheer sight and smell and feel of her as he laid her down on her bed.

“You are so beautiful,” he said. “So unbelievably beautiful.”

“So are you,” she smiled. “You are beautiful, Ned Stark.” His name on her lips in this moment was like a gift, driving out the ghost of his brother, and he bent over her, putting his mouth on one of those perfect nipples and stroking her sex with his hand. His fingers found her little nub and her opening, already wet and unbelievably warm. She shuddered at his touch. “Please, Ned,” she said, just as she had at the door. “Don’t wait. I want you.”

She didn’t need to say it twice. He wasn’t sure he could have waited if she’d asked him to. He moved his hand to grip her bottom as he thrust his cock into her and she cried out as he did it. “Are you all right?” he breathed.

“God, yes!” she said breathlessly. “Don’t stop.” She clutched at his back with one hand and he could feel her fingernails in his flesh. With her other hand she grabbed at his ass, encouraging him to thrust into her faster. He groaned and twisted his free hand into her hair as he thrust again and again, wondering how much of this exquisite torture he could take when she suddenly arched, threw her head back, and cried out his name. Her climax sent him completely over the top as well, and he felt that one instant of unbearable tension before he came hard into her, his body jerking and then collapsing on top of her.

Somehow, he mustered just enough coordination to roll over to his side and gather her against him. She was trembling. “Are you frightened, Cat?” he asked her, concerned.

“No,” she whispered. “I am never afraid with you.”

“Cat,” he said, suddenly a little afraid himself as he realized in their haste that it hadn’t even occurred to him to ask about a condom. “Cat, I didn’t use anything. I’m so sorry. I . . .”

She started laughing. “I didn’t exactly give you time, did I? I’m on the pill, Ned. I have been for a long time. You needn’t worry about child support payments.”

He thought she was making a joke, but he didn’t find it funny. He sat up and looked down at her, her face still flushed from their lovemaking and her hair scattered in every direction on her pillow. “Cat, you needn’t ever worry about that. I don’t want any children before you’re ready, but you must know if something ever happened, I would love you and our child. Don’t ever talk like that would be a bad thing for me.”

She stared up at him and then began to laugh. She laughed until she had tears rolling down her face, and Ned began to think there might be something really wrong until she reached up and touched his face and said “I really do love you. Do you know that?”

He smiled and lay back down to pull her close to him. “Well, no, but I’m very happy to hear it. Did I miss some joke just then?”

“Not really. I’m only very glad that I am with you, Ned Stark. I may never let you leave this bed.”

“I’m perfectly okay with that.”

They made love twice more, much more slowly, before wandering into her kitchen some time around four or five because both of their stomachs had started to growl and they realized neither of them had eaten lunch. They rummaged through her refrigerator and ate ham and cheese sandwiches which they barely finished before making love again, this time standing up against the kitchen counter.

“So, shall we go back to bed now?” he’d asked her laughing, when they’d caught their breath once more.

“Well, there are two other rooms we haven’t tried,” she’d said with a suggestive smile.

“God, Cat, you’re going to kill me,” he said in mock protest.

“Well, at least you’ll go out happy,” she said. Then she’d knelt down and planted a kiss on his now soft cock. “Aw, the poor guy’s got friction burns,” she teased. “Come on.” She’d grabbed a bowl of strawberries and two cokes and led him back to the bedroom, where they sat in bed, fed each other the berries, talked about everything and nothing, and laughed a lot.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever picnicked naked before,” he said after awhile, and she laughed.

“Well, I suppose to make it a proper picnic, we’d have to go outside, but it’s awfully cold in late November.”

“Indeed. I could probably come up with some way to keep you warm, though.”

“I don’t doubt it. Safe and warm.”

“Safe,” he repeated. “Well, I was going for something a little more exciting, but I suppose I can be a teddy bear or blanket if you desire.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” she said, biting her lip, so he knew she was thinking of something serious again.

“What did you mean?” he asked her.

“Well, please don’t be mad. It’s only I was thinking about how wonderful all of this is. The first time Brandon and I . . .well, I was terrified.”

He tried very hard not to be bothered she was thinking of Brandon while eating strawberries naked in bed with him. “Well that was your first time, wasn’t it?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, blushing again. As she was sitting across from him quite naked, he now realized that more than her face colored when she blushed, and he quite liked it. “But that’s not what I was afraid of. Not mostly, anyway. The whole idea seemed terrifying. Brandon was terrifying. It was dangerous and questionable and I was so unsure about everything. And with you, I’m . . .”

“Safe,” he finished for her.

“Exactly,” she said, smiling.

“Exciting, dangerous Brandon, and good old safe Ned,” he muttered, trying not to sound resentful.

“No!” she said. “Why do you always do that? I swear you work at making yourself out to be second best!” She sighed. “If you don’t think you excite me, you apparently haven’t been paying attention the past few hours, and if you think being terrified is a better way to be excited, you’re just . . .wrong. Because that just isn’t true. At least it‘s not for me.”

He looked at her, not sure he understood, but not sure what to ask. After a moment, she continued, “It’s like the skydiving, I suppose.”

“Skydiving,” he repeated.

“Yes. Brandon wanted me to go skydiving once, and I didn’t want to go. I was petrified, but I took the lesson and got all hooked up and we went up in this little plane and I was crying the whole time, begging him just to take me back to the airport, but he told the men to keep going. That I was just nervous. That I would love it. Even though I was sobbing by this point.”

Ned had not heard this story before, and he found himself wanting to go and punch Brandon again now for ever having done anything so cruel to Catelyn. “Did you ever jump?” he asked her.

She shook her head. “I couldn’t. Brandon was getting so angry. The parachute guy had something called a tandem jumpsuit, and Brandon got me into that. The man jumped and I had no choice but to go. I was hooked beneath him hurtling toward the earth.”

“So was it thrilling?”

“In a way? Yes. But it was more terrifying. I never want to do it again. Being with Brandon was like that. You never terrify me. But you definitely thrill me.” She was silent for a minute. Then she grinned. “Do you remember riding that roller coaster at King’s Dominion? The one I made you ride over and over?”

“I’m not likely to forget it,” he laughed.

“That’s you,” she said triumphantly. “I never doubted for a moment I would get off the ride alive. I never really feared for my safety, yet my heart pounded nearly out of my chest and I could barely breathe on that first hill. _That_ is thrilling to me.”

“So,” he said, grinning at her, “You’re telling me I’m as good as the Intimidator 305.”

“Oh no,” she said slowly. “You are much better. Much, much better.” Then she squealed as he tackled her and began kissing her neck, nearly upsetting the strawberries still left in the bowl.

She fell asleep in his arms after they finished making love that time, and Ned knew he had never experienced anything quite so sweet. He had nowhere near the tally of women his brother or Robert had, but he certainly hadn’t been a virgin. Yet, holding Catelyn naked and sleeping against him, he knew he’d never made love before. Not really. There was nothing like this because there was no one like her.

The sun was going down, and he watched the changing light level in the room cause her hair to catch fire in a riot of different hues. _Red,_ he thought, recalling Brandon’s nickname for her. Except her hair wasn’t really red. Red was a firetruck or the picture of an apple in a children’s book. Her hair was auburn, almost a chestnut brown in some lights, and sparkling like bright copper touched with gold in others. Just like fire, her hair wasn’t truly any one color. It was much more complex. She was more complex. He would never try to simplify her or categorize her. He wanted everything she was. _Catelyn Tully,_ he thought. _Catelyn Stark,_ his mind added. He liked the sound of it.

He was still thinking about that when she woke up just as the last rays of sunlight were fading. She stretched and blinked and then smiled up at him as if finding herself in his arms was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to her. His heart had never felt so full and without even realizing what he was saying, he blurted out, “We should get married.”

“What?” she said sitting up and staring at him as if looking for the joke.

“I said we should get married,” he repeated, more steadily and certainly this time. “Cat, Catelyn . . .I don’t remember not loving you. You said you loved me. And after today, well . . .”

She smiled at him. “I do love you, Ned. But you realize this is the twenty-first century, right? You aren’t bound by honor or anything to marry me just because we had sex once . . .or four or five or however many times we did it,” she said, blushing once more. “I promise I’ll keep having sex with you even if you don’t marry me,” she teased.

“I don’t want to marry you because we had sex,” he told her. “And I fully intend to keep having sex with you as long you’ll let me whether you marry me or not.”

“Well, that’s good,” she said, smiling.

“But I do want to marry you, Catelyn Tully. I want to marry you because I cannot imagine you not being in my life. I want to marry you because whenever I do have children, I want them to be yours, too. I want to wake up with you in the morning and go to sleep with you at night. I want to fight with you over whose turn it is to do the dishes and then make up by ripping each other’s clothes off. I want to have a home with you. I want to see the world with you. I love you, Cat. I loved you when I barely knew you, as stupid as that might seem, and the more I know you the more I love you. I know that I’ll love you tomorrow and next week and next year and when both of us are so old, we risk hip fractures doing what we’ve done today. And I’m going to still want to do it anyway, because I’m still going to love you and want you.”

She stared at him, speechless.

“You don’t have to answer me. I know it’s sudden. It’s probably ridiculous. I’m not going to pressure you, and I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me to get lost, even if you never want to be married. I just want you to know how I feel.”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes, Eddard Stark, I’ll marry you.”

Now he was the speechless one. He stared at her, stunned. “You will?” he finally stammered

“Yes. Have I scared you off now?”

“Never in a million years.”

He pulled her to him and kissed her, knowing that they would make love again now, and that even if they made love a million more times, he still would never have enough of her. He could spend years and years getting to know her and he’d still want to learn more. There were still a lot of things he didn’t know, but as her so much more than red hair fell down over him and her soft white skin pressed against his own, he didn’t particularly care. He knew he had the rest of his life to figure out what he was doing with Catelyn Tully.

**Author's Note:**

> So, apparently, I cannot write one shots and then leave it alone. After I wrote "I'm Looking at You Now," there was some interest in what might happen later in that universe. So, while I'm not going to write another long multi-chapter fic, I do have some ideas for events in this AU, so I'll occasionally write stories like this one to be collected in the series I've titled "Love, Unexpected"


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